Trip to Sicily with 11 year-old only child...some questions

I have a Garmin for my GPS and it has worked great in any number of European locations. Just get used to it at home and load in the appropriate maps. You don't want to use your phone as your gps over there as you will incur lots of data charges. You can however download offline maps if that is all you need. Maps with Me is what I have. I drove lots of times without gps over there, but it does make it more convenient and enjoyable for the navigator. Still need a map for backup.

Hertz or Europe Car?

My first time renting, I used Hertz and had no problems or surprises. This time I used Europe Car, in Germany, and got home to find a $175 charge on my credit card, of which I am currently trying to figure out why. I went through Gemut.com and they have been extremely helpful, so hopefully this will be resolved. Just make sure you read all the fine print!

I (and many contributors to this site) prefer to rent a car through a wholesale consolidator.
The company most often cited here is:
www.autoeurope.com and their sister company www.kemwel.com
They are part of the same group, but I check prices with both since the sometimes prices differ a bit and therefore I pick the better deal in either site.
They work with the largest rental companies in Europe, such as Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, etc.
I also select the no deductible insurance option (a.k.a. ‘no insurance excess’) since my US car insurance does not cover me abroad. It’s a bit more expensive, but the deductible can easily amount to €1,000 or more. Also coverage provided by many credit cards excludes Italy and a handful of other countries.

I’ve rented through both consolidator websites above (generally selecting Europcar or Hertz as the rental provider, as they tend to have cheaper rates). When you return the car make sure you obtain receipt that you filled your tank (I also take a picture of the dashboard showing the full gasoline gauge). I often get charged for fuel charges after the fact when I’m back home and having those records allow me to dispute the extra charge with my credit card.

Don’t forget that to drive in Europe you need an International Driver’s Permit (obtainable in 10 minutes at any AAA office with $15 and 2 passport photos). The IDP is a translation of your home driver’s license in multiple languages.

I also recommend to take a GPS unit from home (Garmin or TomTom are both good albeit not infallible) with European maps loaded on it (Maps available on Amazon) and an old fashioned paper map for planning your itinerary and also as a back up since GPS navigators are sometimes inaccurate. You can buy a paper map locally at any shop that sells newspapers.

The beach is a good option for a 11 y.o. In particular there is a very famous beach near Porto Empedocle that is called "La Scala dei Turchi" or the "Staircase of the Turks". It's actually a cliff formation, not a beach. You should visit it, since it's very close to San Leone. Here is a video.

But of course you can't go to Sicily and not visit the many historical sights of a region that was settled by numerous civilizations present a different times in its extraordinarily rich history. Sicily has been under the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the Spaniards, and lastly the Italians. All of them have left their mark.

It takes about 2 hours from Noto to Mt Etna by car. Leave early because the Etna National Park is a whole day affair.

I had a horrible experience with the Hertz agency at the Catania airport; and consequently I will never rent a car from Hertz/Italy, again. I felt that they tried every lie and deceptive practice in the book to squeeze more money out of me. When I tried to challenge some of the charges I discovered after I got home, I found that the e-mail address they provided for customer service didn't work. My experiences with Europcar have all been positive.
One warning on using a gps in Sicily: We found it quirky. A couple of times it led us onto truly terrible roads. The best strategy was to use a map and plan for major roads until you get close to your destination. The gps was most in valuable getting us to our exact location once we were in or near the town. Also, you should be aware that even the autostrade in Sicily may not be heavily furnished with the services we are accustomed to in the U.S. It's prudent to avoid letting your gas tank get too low.

I went to Sicily with a friend last year; my VERY detailed trip report is here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina

About the GPS: for that trip, we had a Garmin. Sometimes it was very helpful, but for our agriturismo, it simply did not know the roads around the farmhouse. This year, my friend went back with his husband and they took a TomTom. It knew the all roads around the agriturismo - my friend said it was an odd sensation NOT getting lost going there!

So, Garmin 0, TomTom 1. One data point, for what it's worth. He got his TomTom from Amazon with both US and European maps pre-installed, and it wasn't expensive.

About the car: for both trips, Kemwel had by far the best price. Last year, the car was from Hertz, and this year it was from Europcar. In each case, it was rented from downtown Palermo and returned to the Catania airport. The only problem was finding the car rental return at the airport (the signage is lousy, and my friend said he had trouble again this year even though we had done it a year ago). Another issue was that this year, he had gotten a small scratch. Even though he had zero deductable and they agreed he wasn't responsible financially, the Europcar agent still took a lot of time documenting everything, and my friend was afraid he'd miss his plane.

One other thing: we kept reading that you should rent the absolute smallest possible car as larger cars are impossible to drive there. But we needed a car that would hold all our luggage (four suitcases plus a CPAP and varous other things) out of sight in the trunk, which meant a larger model. We ended up with a Fiat 500L, and had no trouble driving or parking it anywhere we went, even though it was a bit larger than many other cars there (again, a bit, not a lot larger). So, don't fear a somewhat larger car if that's what you need. Do pay attention to listed luggage limit for each size of car - we found it to be accurate, and with three people you'll need enough room for everyone's stuff.

As for things to see, if she has any interest in mosaics, the Villa Romana outside Piazza Armerina is a must.